A Short Defense of the American Peace Officer

Anger. Stress. Sorrow. Repeat. This is the daily life of a cop, and the experts tell us stress kills, even minor stress that seems insignificant. 

Dr. Nicholas Christenfeld was a professor of psychology at the University of California in San Diego. Dr. Christenfeld conducted a study on the effects of minor stress on a person’s life. The professor and his colleagues looked at the names of people who had died in California during a 25 year time span. They found that those who had positive initials like WIN, TOP, WOW, etc. lived an average of almost four and a half years longer than those with neutral initials. On the other hand, those with negative initials such as DUD, SIC, PUD, etc. died almost three years earlier than the neutral group. Dr. Christenfeld‘s conclusion: even small sources of stress over a long period of time can affect your will to live. (LaTimes.com, “Bad Initials Can Be Hazardous to Your Health,” 31 March 1988)

In light of Dr. Christenfeld’s conclusions on the effects of minor stress on longevity, one must wonder how many years are taken off a cop’s life as the result of sitting with a victim who takes his last breath, or picking up the pieces of a fatality accident caused by a drunk driver, or suppressing emotions to get a confession from a murderer? 

The average life expectancy for a person living in the US is age 78 (Cdc.gov, 23 May 2011), but for a cop, the average life expectancy is a little over 66 years (Badgeoflife.com, 23 August 2011). That is a difference of 12 years on average. Those years are gone all in the name of justice, truth, protection of the weak, and the pursuit of righteousness. 

It is a great cost, but some still call us pigs and hate us while we seek to protect them and a way of life that is unique in a world that operates on corruption, intimidation, deceit, and preying on the weak. Police officers are people and like all people are subject to error, emotions, and impulse. Some overreact, some succumb to their emotions, and some are negligent; however, let us not judge the many by the sins of the few. The average police officer in the United States is devoted to truth, justice, service, and protection.

Please remember to pray for us, and ask the Lord to give us strength and wisdom to do our jobs with integrity, resolve, and wisdom, and if you have children, tell them to to be deliberate, honest, and thoughtful in their interactions with police. Give your children a good name to live up to, just as we as peace officers strive to live up to our name.